MattHollingsworth
Well-Known Member
Hey guys.
So, I've been brewing beer for 15 years, so I know all of those techniques. Started making mead last year as well, but have only made 4 batches of that. All are tasty, so working out well.
We bought a little piece of land this year to build our house on in a few years. We're saving the money for building and won't be doing it for a few years and currently on that land we have an apple orchard that was already there when we bought the land. There are a bunch of trees there. Haven't counted them, but I'd guess maybe 15 or so. Seems to be two types of apples, one of them a bit more yellow/green and one of them a sort of mixed pattern with red mixed in there. We're in Croatia and these are local apples. I can ask further about identifying them as my wife may have an idea.
I'm not a huge fan of apples. These taste okay but a bit sour-ish. Not really super sweet or anything.
There's not a chance in hell we can eat all of these apples and they're already starting to fall off the trees on some trees. So, guess they're maybe a kind of early apple as I thought apples were for September. Anyway, since we can't eat all of them, I figured I might make some cider. Yes, I am not really that into apples but I figured might as well make some cider, see if we like it and if not I can give some away anyway.
That said, looking for some advice. I've read around a bit online, but looking for additional info. A lot of noob info is about starting with juice. We'll start with fruit. I don't want to get into mass production, but thought I could make some cider to see if these apples are any good for it. I thought because they're maybe more tannic and sour that they might actually make a good cider with some complexity
That said, if I wanted to make a few test batches of 20 liters or something, here are the questions for now:
Should I just use our kitchen food processor to pulp these guys? If not, what *should* I use? I don't want to spend a bunch of money on equipment.
For pressing, I'll check the price on local grape presses, though might not want to spend the money. I've seen some videos of pressing with cheese cloth and pieces of wood and with clamps and stuff. Ideas for this are appreciated.
Usual brewing technique with cider, ie no splashing post fermentation, aerate well for the yeast before fermentation, etc etc?
I thought I might make a few batches and try the two apples separately, maybe try wild yeast on the apples, a beer yeast and a wine yeast to see the differences. Might try a Saison yeast as I'll be harvesting some from a beer fermentation here soon.
Add sugar or honey pre fermentation, or not? Without these, how strong should I expect the cider to be? Use nutrients for the yeast?
Anyway, any insights, thoughts, links for further reading, etc are all greatly appreciated. Thanks!
So, I've been brewing beer for 15 years, so I know all of those techniques. Started making mead last year as well, but have only made 4 batches of that. All are tasty, so working out well.
We bought a little piece of land this year to build our house on in a few years. We're saving the money for building and won't be doing it for a few years and currently on that land we have an apple orchard that was already there when we bought the land. There are a bunch of trees there. Haven't counted them, but I'd guess maybe 15 or so. Seems to be two types of apples, one of them a bit more yellow/green and one of them a sort of mixed pattern with red mixed in there. We're in Croatia and these are local apples. I can ask further about identifying them as my wife may have an idea.
I'm not a huge fan of apples. These taste okay but a bit sour-ish. Not really super sweet or anything.
There's not a chance in hell we can eat all of these apples and they're already starting to fall off the trees on some trees. So, guess they're maybe a kind of early apple as I thought apples were for September. Anyway, since we can't eat all of them, I figured I might make some cider. Yes, I am not really that into apples but I figured might as well make some cider, see if we like it and if not I can give some away anyway.
That said, looking for some advice. I've read around a bit online, but looking for additional info. A lot of noob info is about starting with juice. We'll start with fruit. I don't want to get into mass production, but thought I could make some cider to see if these apples are any good for it. I thought because they're maybe more tannic and sour that they might actually make a good cider with some complexity
That said, if I wanted to make a few test batches of 20 liters or something, here are the questions for now:
Should I just use our kitchen food processor to pulp these guys? If not, what *should* I use? I don't want to spend a bunch of money on equipment.
For pressing, I'll check the price on local grape presses, though might not want to spend the money. I've seen some videos of pressing with cheese cloth and pieces of wood and with clamps and stuff. Ideas for this are appreciated.
Usual brewing technique with cider, ie no splashing post fermentation, aerate well for the yeast before fermentation, etc etc?
I thought I might make a few batches and try the two apples separately, maybe try wild yeast on the apples, a beer yeast and a wine yeast to see the differences. Might try a Saison yeast as I'll be harvesting some from a beer fermentation here soon.
Add sugar or honey pre fermentation, or not? Without these, how strong should I expect the cider to be? Use nutrients for the yeast?
Anyway, any insights, thoughts, links for further reading, etc are all greatly appreciated. Thanks!